Right-hander Austin Smith says it wasn't until recently that he started to pay attention to Tommy John surgery and performing preventative exercises. / Richard Julylia

by Ray Glier, Special for USA TODAY Sports, USATODAY

by Ray Glier, Special for USA TODAY Sports, USATODAY

ATLANTA -- The teenage pitchers standing in the bullpen down the left field line at North Springs High School here last week during a national baseball tournament had heard the buzz around the 2014 draft's top pick, pitcher Brady Aiken. The Houston Astros determined that Aiken, a left-handed pitcher whose fastball reaches 98 mph, has an elbow issue, and there is fear of Tommy John surgery for yet another promising hurler.

The pitchers were chagrined for Aiken, who is just a year ahead of them, while also wondering how much life remains in the ulnar collateral ligament in their own prized elbows.

"It's a little scary," said Evan Sperling, a 6-5 right-hander and rising senior from Grafton, Va., who has committed to Virginia. "It's in the back of your mind."

That young pitchers on the fast track to college scholarships or, possibly, seven-figure professional signing bonuses are wise to arm injuries is one positive to emerge from the epidemic of reconstructive elbow surgeries.

This year, 27 major leaguers have had Tommy John surgery or are expected to have it, many of them young, hard throwers.

So the question to ask the coming generation isn't, "Who's next?" but rather, "What are you doing to protect yourself?"

"It worries me a little," said Nick Neidert, a rising senior at Peachtree Ridge High School in Lawrenceville, Ga., who plays summer ball for Team Elite Prime. "I know if I gas one up just for the radar gun I could hurt myself. So I don't do it."

"I didn't know about Tommy John surgery until recently," said Austin Smith, a 6-4½ right-hander from West Palm Beach, who has committed to Florida Atlantic, but could be a first-round pick in 2015. "I think about it some now. I'm being careful. My coach has me doing a lot of exercises to strengthen my shoulder."

Mike Nikorak, one of the top pitchers at this Perfect Game 17U Tournament, threw in one game for the powerhouse Evoshield Canes (43 pitches, four innings, no hits) and packed his bags and went home, presumably to rest his arm.

Nikorak, a 6-5 right-hander with a fastball that already sits in the mid-90s, told the Pocono Record newspaper that he has events scheduled throughout the summer so he can pitch in front of professional scouts and become the top rated player in the 2015 draft class.

Gary Nikorak, his uncle, did not return a phone call for comment.

Many of the top-shelf pitchers know exactly how many innings they have thrown this year between the spring high school season and summer tournaments. If they don't know the innings count, some of their coaches know, or their parents.

"Sperling threw 58 innings in the spring for his high school," said Jeff Petty, the Evoshield Canes 17U owner and general manager. "He won't go past 100, total, if that. We have had one TJ in nine years; we're cautious."

Dave Stephenson, the pitching coach for Team Elite Prime, said building the back side of the shoulder is essential. He has hurlers take a weighted ball and perform "negative throws" - that is, tossing the ball backward.

"I threw 70 innings in the high school season," said Bobby Gauvreau, a right-hander and rising senior at Sprayberry High School in Marietta, Ga. Art Evans, his coach for the East Cobb Tigers summer team, did not even pitch Gauvreau the first three weeks of the summer season.

GALLERY: MAJOR LEAGUERS WHO UNDERWENT TJ SURGERY IN 2014

Gauvreau, who threw a no-hitter in the Perfect Game Tournament, striking out 15, said he won't dare reach back for the sake of a number on the radar gun. The 5-11 hurler has rules that govern the health of his arm and the first rule is not to pay attention to the radar gun held behind home plate by a scout, or fixed to the backstop. Rule 2 is to be on alert for any twinges of pain.

"If I feel anything, I tell my dad," he said. "I ice a lot and I have a (nerve stimulation machine). I do a lot of stretching."

Gauvreau has reached the 90s on a radar gun, but he does want to be labeled purely as a gasman. He wants to be known more as a pitcher who can hit his spots and have a reliable secondary pitch.

Yet, everyone knows the magic of speed in baseball. The radar gun is friend and foe.

"Velocity gets you noticed," says Evans.

Blog items on the Perfect Game website, which track the scouting of amateur players, talk about a pitcher's velocity above all else. An information page has listings for hotels, car rentals and fastball velocity.

One of the men who has held a radar gun behind home plate is Gary Hughes, a veteran scout who works for the Boston Red Sox and held front office positions with several clubs. He was in the game when radar guns were introduced, another era when scouts did not trust the gizmos at first, but now regard them as an essential tool.

"My advice to these kids is to just relax, and throw, and don't be in a hurry," Hughes said. "There are no bullets in that gun, don't let it hurt you by overthrowing. Be yourself. Just let your arm work."

Scouts and coaches say the proliferation of "scouting" events outside the high school season is creating more wear and tear on pitchers. Perfect Game and Under Armour are just a few entities holding events or tournaments that are typically week-long affairs.

Then there's tryouts for teams affiliated with USA Baseball and the many "showcase" events where pitchers throw for college and professional scouts.

It makes pitch counts for teenagers difficult to manage.

Evans said arm injuries for young pitchers are an "epidemic" because of the proliferation of showcase events. "I don't want to just pick on Perfect Game, it's not just Perfect Game," he says. "There are events all over."

Nikorak, for example, had already pitched in a Perfect Game national showcase for scouts in June. After the tournament here he was headed to San Diego, then Chicago and New York for other showcase events this summer, according to the Pocono newspaper.

While Nikorak's load was light at the Atlanta event, the temptation to throw 97 mph consistently for big league scouts is disconcerting to Glenn Fleisig, a leading researcher of youth arm injuries at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, Ala.

Fleisig and noted orthopedist James Andrews recently authored a position statement on the Tommy John surgery epidemic.

"One thing that is quantifiable is that pitchers today throw harder than in previous generations," Fleisig said. "The science points out that the fast pitches are more stressful."

Brian Kaplan, the coach of the Easton Rockets summer team, said teenage pitchers are trying to race into the big leagues. "They are trying to do at 17 what they naturally should be doing at 21 and 22 years old," Kaplan said.

Fleisig said the young pitchers that need to be most on guard come from warm weather states. ASMI collected data in 2011 that 63% of hitters in Major League Baseball came from warm weather locales compared to 56% of pitchers. Fleisig said fewer pitchers than hitters from warm weather locales made it to the big leagues because of arm breakdowns.

Fleisig does not want to demonize all showcases pitchers attend, just the ones that come in the offseason. "Dr. Andrews and other orthopedic doctors see a lot of pitchers who say 'I went to a showcase last week,'" Fleisig said. "The weather gets cooler, the season is over, and then they get invited to some showcase and you have a pitcher who is in his offseason, perhaps in December, and he hasn't thrown competitively and he is going to ramp up for a few days.

"He is not only going to pitch a lot, but as hard as he can, and it leads to injuries."

The only 17-year old pitcher at the Perfect Game 17U Tournament who seemed fully at ease about Tommy John surgery was Brady Acker of the Easton Rockets. He's already had his reconstructive surgery.

His fastball was 92 mph before surgery; thanks to the transplant of a ligament from his hamstring to his elbow, Acker said it's at 92 again.

"You got to do what you do, don't be scared," Acker said. "Yeah, I pitched to the radar gun. I was trying to blow it up my sophomore year. I'm working on mechanics, making sure my elbow doesn't drop down. My velocity is back now, but it should be better."

Evans, the East Cobb Tigers coach, says a young pitcher cannot afford "to do what you do." He shook his head in dismay when talking about a high school pitcher on his travel team who already had had Tommy John surgery. The pitcher is throwing again, but his velocity is not back at 90, but "just" 86.

"The Division I school that offered him a scholarship pulled it, said he didn't throw hard enough," Evans said. "It's tough to talk about."